Salsa Cycles Fargo Page

Friday, September 30, 2005

Already surfing the pics and news this morning out of Interbike. The wave is cresting now! Some minor product introductions, but really, nothing smashing as of yet! The new Ibis has all the old retro-grouches bemoaning the fact that the new models are in carpet-fibre! The SRAM road group is still under glass, and no one seems to know how it works yet, although I have a pretty good idea. Sew up mountain bike tires, titanium road brakes, and several road bike intros are some of the more interesting bits. You can see most of this on www.cyclingnews.com . Just look at the upper left corner of the home page for several links to the show. TONS of pictures!

Last thing I want to point out is Ergon's new magnesium bar ended grip that Jeff spoke of yesterday in his fast and furious post from the Interbike show floor. That's a pretty sweet grip. Mr. 24 should have one to show you soon! In fact, he should be on his way back to boring ol' Iowa today.

Final Interbike Post: Well, the show is winding down. The link I put up a couple of posts ago on the Blue Collar Mountain Bike guys is still my favorite post. They really got it captured best. Check it out. They will have several updates in coming days. The Go Clipless guys will also be updating, as well.

My final view is this: Nothing really new. SRAM road group is exciting, and it has potential, but it's still "unobtanium" , so it doesn't count. Many other items fall under this heading. The current trends of carbon fiber, on the road side, and "all-mountain" full suspension, on the MTB side, show no signs of abating. Last years oversaturation of chopper bikes has faded, thankfully! Hardly any to be seen this year! 29-inchers have gained traction in numbers of bikes available, but component manufacturers are still too cautious to enter into the market. No new tire, fork, or other 29 inch specific products as of this writing. The coolest bike of the show, for me, was Ibis' new Carbon Mojo full suspension frame. Carved from thermoplastic carbon fiber. That's right! Carved! CNC'ed to be exact. It is a piece of art, that just happens to be a bicycle frame. It's one of many mountainbikes this year that are influenced by a more organic design element.

Well, that's all! Mr.24 is on his way home, and we'll all be waiting for his take on the show. Monkeytron should be a hoot for a few days, as well. Until then............